Sephiroth's Secret
by Kisara Strife
Summary: When Cloud's younger sister shows up in Edge as a 1st Class SOLDIER, secrets begin to raise their ugly heads ... secrets that were buried and hidden by President Shinra; secrets that should have remained hidden amidst Shinra's deepest files forever.
1. Ali Appears

**Author's Note;** Kay guys, this is a totally rewritten chapter cos this fic was the first one I ever uploaded on this site and I read back over it recently and realized how little reading context there was in it, and way too much dialogue aswell...and I left loads of loose ends and unexplained happenings, so here it is; the rewritten first chapter and I hope it's an improvement, so plees let me know ppls!! Kas- out :-) XxxxxxxxxxxX

* * *

"No Cloud! Please don't go…"

The fourteen-year-old lad sighed and looked down at the girl clinging to his leg, flashing a smirk as he bent downwards and ruffled her locks of bright blonde, not wanting to leave on bad terms. He just about managed to pry the four-year-old from his shin, smiling at her as he spoke in a typical big-brother tone of voice.

"I have to, but I'll be home before you know it."

The little girl looked at him, her bright, gleaming blue eyes becoming rather doubtful as she eyed her older brother with impish suspicion…not sure whether to trust his words or not. She folded her small arms across her chest in a comical fashion and frowned up at him with indignant questioning

"Promise?"

Cloud gave half a laugh as he looked into her Mako-shining blue eyes; she'd been born with the eerie glow of Mako setting her sapphire irises alight. Many of the villagers blamed the unusual trait on the Mako-reactor situated on the nearby Mt. Nibel, but there had been no more children of Ali's age born with glow, leaving the problem unresolved. With a smile, the young adolescent looked into his little sister's eyes and nodded his spikey blond head.

"I promise; and I'll have loads of stories to tell you."

The little girl smiled brightly at the prospect of exciting tales from the Floating City and hugged her big brother goodbye. Her mother then pulled her back to allow her son some freedom to move, her own maternal instincts kicking in and blue eyes watering as Cloud suddenly seemed so grown-up all of a sudden. Cloud stood and, shouldering his back-pack, turned and walked away from his home; Nibelheim. Not once did he look back to see the adorable face of his little sister or the loving gaze of his mother, and he'd never get to ever again, for the malicious Masamune came slicing from out of nowhere, destroying his life beyond repair and annihilating his family-

"_Ahh_!"

Cloud Strife woke from the nightmare with a violent start and sat bolt upright in the bed, panting hard; he had broken out in a cold sweat. It was a few seconds before the blond realized he'd been the same dream as the last time, and the time before that: the guilt just seemed so agonizing when it invaded his sleep aswell as his day.

With an angered sigh, the young man flopped back down onto the mattress, Tifa stirring slightly beside him, but remaining in an enviously peaceful sleep. The now twenty five-year-old Cloud gave out a long groan as he attempted to close his eyes, only for his mind to be affronted by the sight of his burning hometown and Sephiroth's sickening smile as he walked away from the Strife house. It was as the blood dripped from the tip of Masamune that the blond then lost all interest in sleep and stood from the double bed: knowing that if he did somehow manage to fall back asleep, it would be into the same nightmare again.

Walking to the foot of the bed, to where his trousers lay, the young man ran a hand through his trademark spikes, sighing heavily as he lifted up the garment. He sifted through the deep pockets of the black combats and pulled out his wallet, opening it and looking at the two pictures inside. One was of him and his family: Tifa, Marlene, Kas and Denzel. Tifa had insisted on getting a picture of them all together about three months ago and that's what he'd arranged for their anniversary: a proper photographer was hired and everything. It had taken a lot of persuading to get Denzel to wear the stiff new clothes, entertaining galore to get Kas to sit still, whilst Marlene happily wore her newest dress and smiled quite contently. It had taken almost two hours, but they'd managed to get the pictures taken in the end. Smiling as the memory replayed, Cloud switched his attention to second picture kept safe in his wallet: it was a faded, yellowing picture of an adorable three-year-old girl. She'd had the same blond-coloured hair as him and her eyes were identical to his, only they had been shining with Mako energy since her birth, not due to any malicious experiments carried out by Hojo.

"Ali again?"

Cloud started slightly and spun as his wife's voice interrupted his blameful thoughts. Tifa was sitting up in the bed and looking at him with sympathy overly evident in her soft, earthy irises. With a second's hesitation and one more flashed glance at the picture, he nodded his spikey head.

"Yeah, she'd be gone fifteen now, y'know, if he hadn't …"

Cloud broke off, not willing to let his self-blame be voiced and yet he was unable to block out that annoying little voice that told him beyond all irrefutable doubt that the murder of his family by Sephiroth had been his own fault; if he'd been able to stop that monster then his mother and sister would still be alive today. Ali Strife had been his only sibling, ten years younger than him and he'd let her die.

The young father had been tormented by the same dream for months now. The same thing over and over; relentlessly reliving the last time he'd seen his little sis; on the day he'd left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. The next time he'd set eyes on the girl had been for a brief couple of seconds when she was six, but he'd been unable to reveal himself to the people of his hometown because of his shame at not making it into SOLDIER. Tifa had been babysitting her that day and had sent the little girl home to her mother, Vanessa, when the Shinra party had arrived.

Three or four seconds; that's how long he'd been able to glimpse her blonde hair and blue eyes through the visor of his Grunt uniform.

"Cloud, it wasn't your fault."

He looked at his wife's worried gaze as she said the words, slightly surprised that she'd been able to read him like that, but he knew he was always an open book to Tifa. Cloud looked to her and flashed the woman a reassuring smirk, knowing she would worry for him.

"I know, Tifa."

She sighed heavily and looked to the clock on the locker at her side of the bed, resisting the urge to yawn deeply as she registered the unholy hour; the vivid red of the LED lighting was illuminating the time as twenty to four in the early morning. She then looked up to her husband and spoke softly in an understanding tone that she knew fell all too easily from her lips.

"You should get a couple more hours of sleep before starting the deliveries."

Cloud nodded his agreement and, slipping his wallet back inside its pocket, climbed back into the double bed, wrapping his muscled arms around Tifa as she seemingly drifted off to sleep again. But the woman didn't slumber - she remained awake for a few minutes, knowing Cloud to be wide awake behind her frame, with no intention of falling asleep - he would lie awake until the time came to start deliveries: it was the same after every nightmare. Her thoughts began their churning once more as she could sense it happening; Cloud was reverting back to his taciturn and detached ways once more, just like almost two years ago.

* * *

The husband and wife were woken at eight by the sound of tiny footsteps running towards their shared room. It surprised Cloud to find that he'd actually managed to slip in about an hour's sleep before the sun came up for the morning. The door was then opened rather abruptly and in bounded their one-and-a-half year old daughter, Kisara Aerith Strife, or Kas, as she was known for short.

"Hey little miss!"

Cloud lifted his tiny daughter high in the air, smiling. It was one of the first smiles he'd cracked in days. Tifa laughed as Kas started giggling; effectively hiding the rush of relief she had felt at seeing her husband smile. The little girl was the image of Cloud, with his face and features; she'd inherited his Mako-shining eyes aswell. The mother didn't have a clue where her daughter had gotten her colourless locks though; Kas had white hair that, with the slightest shade, would take on a deep blue colour. She'd researched her family history as much as she could, and yet Tifa still had no clue about the highly-unusual colouring - it was a mystery alright.

After a couple more blissful minutes of the little child giggling infectiously, Tifa carried her young daughter downstairs to give her a breakfast and open the bar, whilst Cloud walked to the converted-attic that doubled as the base office for the Strife Delivery Service, and sorted through the day's deliveries; most of them were in Edge, so he would be finished early enough.

But the woman couldn't help but heave an abnormally heavy sigh as her love walked out the door to commence these deliveries; things had improved immensely since Sephiroth had been defeated, but ever since the dreams had began he was becoming like the old Cloud again - withdrawn and solitary. Almost functioning on autopilot, she placed two more bowls of cereal on the kitchen table. Kas was sitting in her highchair, playing with her own bowl of rice crispies, spilling more on the floor than what was going into her mouth. Tifa grabbed a tea towel and wiped the cereal from the tiles with a smirk, before walking into the hall and shouting up the stairs.

"Marlene, Denzel; breakfast!"

After a few audible and sleepy protests, the two children appeared at the top of the stairs, bleary-eyed and still half-asleep. As the three kids sat in the kitchen, Tifa heard the door open and walked out into the bar to see Reeve entering as Yuffie bounded in behind him: she'd been working closely with the WRO for the last few months, as it seemed the organization could take advantage of the young princesses' espionage talents. Barret entered a few minutes after with Vincent almost in tow it seemed by the timing. Tifa smiled as she saw the awkward glances and slight blushes that were traded between ex-Turk and Wutain Royalty. Over the last couple of weeks, Shelke had been dropping a few hints here and there concerning Vincent's "moving on" and Reeve had supplied the other end of the tale about Yuffie's "new victim": it hadn't taken the bar-owner very long to string two and two together. As the men sat and talked about various things, Yuffie stood and walked up to Tifa who was watching from behind the counter of her bar, with an almost wanly expression upon her attractive features as she thought of the new relationship that would soon blossom, whilst it seemed hers was fizzling out.

"You look worried Teef …"

The mother started slightly as the hyper ninja snapped her fingers in front of her reddish-hazel irises, jolting her back to the present and away from her complex reveries. With little hesitation, Tifa reckoned it was maybe time to confide in Yuffie a little: the girl was supposedly going with Vincent Valentine after all, so she must have matured somewhat. The woman cast a cautionary glance over her right shoulder to ensure Marlene wasn't there; the eight-year-old always had a way of reading people's emotions that was very unusual for her tender age, but luckily Barret was occupying his little girl. Tifa turned back to Yuffie and frowned at her friend, talking in a low tone.

"It's Cloud; he's been having dreams about his little sister for months now."

When Yuffie raised her eyebrows in retaliation to this newly learned fact about one of her friends, having not known Cloud to have a younger sibling, Tifa explained everything about tragic little Ali.

"Whoa, killed by Sephiroth? Man, that's harsh."

The Princess of Wutai sounded sympathetic as she mulled over what she'd just been told. It was no wonder that Cloud had neglected to fill them in on that aspect of his history. It was unimaginable to have all of your family wiped out in one night. And then Tifa spoke with an air of slight lamenting as the topic hovered over the small blonde girl with striking Mako-glowing blue irises.

"I didn't see much of her after Cloud left; she was six when she and her mom were killed, I used to baby-sit her sometimes."

Tifa looked at Yuffie with something that passed as a melancholy smirk, thankful that she had someone to talk to; it was tiring to deal with everyone else's problems the whole time. Almost as though she knew what the other woman was about to ask, the normally hyper and uncontrollable twenty-year-old looked at her in quite an unusual and serious fashion, also taming her voice down to a low and sincere tone so unlike the young Princess, and yet appreciated by Tifa nonetheless.

"Don't worry Tifa; I won't say this to anyone. Poor Cloud; that boy never has any luck!"

* * *

"_Ahh_!"

Friday morning harboured no unexpected relief as Cloud woke violently from the same dream for the umpteenth time that week; they were getting even more frequent now. Every time he closed his eyes he could see his little sister's saddened face as she watched him walk away from their small mountain home; two years later and she hadn't even known he'd been in the village, and now it seemed that hindsight was taking it's toll as Cloud questioned why he hadn't revealed himself to his younger sister, constantly beating himself up about it. But retrospect was good for nothing.

Abandoning any more thoughts of sleep, he turned to see Tifa asleep, and then glanced at the clock, subsequently identifying the time as 8.03am.

"Tifa …"

He gently shook her awake, allowing them to fall into their almost automatic weekly routine; Tifa would walk downstairs, feed the kids and open the bar as Cloud went the opposite way, up to the attic-come-base office of his self-titled company, sorting through the many delivery logs and then he'd start the numerous deliveries that would take up the bulk of his day. It was monotonous, but at least it kind of took his mind off of the tormenting dreams for a while, albeit not nearly long enough.

* * *

7th Heaven still harboured the majority of AVALANCHE, aswell as one or two WRO members as the lunch hour approached. Tifa walked out from the kitchen, having been summoned into the room by the ringing of the wall-mounted phone, and answering, slightly apprehensive as her mind flashed on her childhood friend who had since become her husband; he'd been pretty subdued this morning as he'd left the house.

"Everything aright?'

That was the unmistakable undertone, calm voice of Vincent asking the query as she re-entered the bar and leaned on the counter, obviously looking a bit confused as she just ran through the phone call in her mind. The young woman looked at him with slight confusion, remembering the conversation she'd just had.

"Rufus wants us all to go to the Shinra building; apparently their new 1st Class SOLDIER arrived from the Junon training camp today."

The members of AVALANCHE looked at one another; it was true that, in the years since Cloud's defeating of Sephiroth, the eco-terrorist group had become close allies with Shinra. The young Rufus had raised his fallen empire from the ashes and resurrected Shinra as a formidable force that would repay its debts to Gaia. Over the last couple of months, there had been a lot of talk concerning this new 1st Class SOLDIER and the person's arrival would be welcomed as it would highlight the beginning of a new era for Edge and Gaia, in such that SOLDIER would be used only as a defence force; no more wars would tear the planet apart and any one or thing that attempted to cause havoc would pay the price of opposing SOLDIER's formidable power. Junon was now in the process of siphoning through its many enrolled troops and selecting the revered couple that would partake in SOLDIER training as the training itself remained as testing and exhausting as ever. B

But the arrival of this first SOLDIER would be a celebratory happening for everyone in Edge. It was Barret who spoke after a moment or two, already in the process of standing up, Marlene holding his right hand and Cait Sith held quite comfortably in her arms.

"Does Spikey know ta go to da buildin?"

"Tseng rang him; he'll meet us over there."

Tifa nodded her head as she answered the question, lifting Kas into her arms and sitting the small toddler atop her hip as she walked out from behind the counter of her bar, and stood as all her friends also got to their feet and made for the door aswell. One thing was for sure - if Rufus wanted them to check out this new SOLDIER, he'd better be good for his own sake, for a new Sephiroth would never be accepted.

* * *

Rufus Shinra greeted them at the front lobby, his young son, Bobby, running up to Kas, as did Tseng and Elena's daughter; Selphie. The three toddlers were round and about the same age and would probably grow up to be good friends in years to come.

Bobby was the result of Rufus and a young operative of Reeve's WRO, Rachie, becoming romantically involved with each other, so far that Rufus had proposed to the woman. Complications during Bobby's birth resulted in the twenty-three year old losing her life before she even got to set eyes upon her son, thus leaving Rufus as a single parent to the infant boy.

Tseng and Elena had become an item about three months after the events concerning Sephiroth's return; their time in captivity at the hands of Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz seemed to have strengthened the bond between the two Turks and that stood to testament as they'd been married for three years now, with a young daughter to show for it.

Cloud was already there; the core blade of his Buster Sword, the First Tsurugi, was held in his right hand, the young blond having distributed the rest of the feared sword within Fenrir's confines, but decided it best to bring one of the blades with him in case any sparring were to be carried out to test out this new 1st Class. Though he had to admit he was a bit curios: Gaia had been too long at this stage without a protective militant force and one would surely be needed as, though pessimistic, Cloud could still recall Sephiroth's words before dissipating and leaving Kadaj for dead.

The youthful president of the Shinra Electric Company looked as happy as a pig in shit as he explained all about the new SOLDIER. It was obvious to see the excitement as Shinra entered its new era as a positive company: at total odds to what it had been under the rule of the man's father those years ago. It was still hard to trust Rufus as he attempted to be a do-gooder nowadays, for his father's name would always hang over him, but many supposed that was exactly why he was attempting to turn his ways around - the father didn't want his young son to grow up and carry a burden like his; a notion that somehow managed to make it a little easier to believe the company-owner had reformed his ways.

"A girl?"

Cloud looked and sounded rather doubtful, not being able to help himself from repeating this detail immediately after Rufus had spoken the words. This would be the first time a female ever enrolled in the SOLDIER force, let alone made it to 1st Class ranking, a slight shock to the system. The force wasn't gender-biased or anything of the sort; it was just generally accepted that only males ever made it to SOLDIER level as a woman's anatomy was differentiated from a man's by muscle presence, energy levels amidst other factors; it just served as an unexpected surprise. Then again, if this was a new era, then it was time for a few changes.

"Yes, she's a girl; she enrolled at ten, promoted at thirteen and has been trained since then. She's just over fifteen years of age now. Junon training scouts claim she has a lot of promise. Also, the girl wields a Buster Sword much like your own Cloud; it, too, can be dismantled into six separate blades."

Upon hearing this statement from Rufus, Tifa smirked; it was hard to imagine a fifteen-year-old girl being capable of handle a sword like Cloud's; she had tried holding just the core blade herself once; talk about unimaginably heavy! That stunt had earned her a couple of pulled muscles, and then to watch Cloud effortlessly handle the whole, assembled, huge sword with amazing ease was both envy-inducing and a cause for admiration at the same time.

* * *

Reno's voice could be heard emanating clearly from the training hall as the group walked through the many labyrinthine corridors, towards the large chamber to the rear of the relatively new building. Upon opening the door, the redheaded Turk was to be seen, hitting heavily and quite obviously upon the newcomer.

"Reno! You'll scare her!"

Tseng scowled at the troublesome young Turk as he instructed the youth to be on his way; Cissnei wouldn't be happy if she found him flirting, for she and Reno had been a proper item for about three months now…the young woman seemed to be the only one capable of taming the redhead and they were working out pretty well as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was only then that the young teenager turned on the spot, laughing as the Turk called Reno hastily slinked away upon his boss's command, only to freeze as she noticed someone hauntingly familiar to her memories and the hall suddenly fell into an unintentionally frosty silence.

As two pairs of Mako-shining blue eyes stared at each other, the now frozen hall continued on with its immense quietness, two Buster Swords clattering to the floor as blond looked at blonde in disbelief, finally shattered the silence. Cloud barely recognized the girl, having not seen her properly in over nine years, and yet her memorable three-year-old appearance had been haunting him for months upon months now.

"Ali?"

Her Mako-gleaming eyes took on a new level of shimmering as they shone with tears whilst she looked at her older brother; Cloud had really changed; his arms were muscled, his shoulders broader, he was taller, a few new scars here and there, but his eyes said it all: it was definitely him. A single tear broke free and raced down her right cheek as she ran to him, her feet acting on autopilot as almost forgotten memories of her youngest years flashed incomprehensibly though her mind.

"Cloud!"

The young father blinked a couple of times as a result of confusion and utter shock and then he wrapped his arms around his little sister, hugging her as one point made it through to his disorientated mind; Ali wasn't dead. Rufus Shinra looked on, as did everyone else severely confused, but it was the unknowing company-president to be the first to speak, directing his question to the young teenager in his employment.

"Ali, you know Cloud?"

The teen pulled away from her older sibling's embrace as she nodded her blond tresses whilst looking up at the man she had become familiar with as her boss. Never had the girl imagined being stationed in Edge would bring about this, never.

"He's my brother, sir."

At the sound of this, Rude began chuckling, which was extremely unusual for the normally uptight Turk; it was a noise rarely heard by anyone else except Reno, who was now looking to his partner with surprised bemusement as the shade-wearing bald man looked back to him.

"Reno, you were hitting on Cloud Strife's little sister."

Even Tseng had to smirk at this comment, especially when Reno's cerulean eyes widened slightly upon realizing his friend was right.

Tifa looked at her shocked husband and his younger sister, her mind a whiz as she thought back over the past couple of months, maybe the dreams had been trying to tell him something? Whether this philosophical approach was correct or not, the young woman deftly realized this was a scene which would do so much better without the overcrowding of intrigued faces that were now about to bear witness to it.

"I think we'll give you two a bit of time."

She then proceeded to pretty much push everyone out until the only ones left in the vast room were the two Strife siblings, accompanied by Yuffie flashing Tifa a knowing smile as Cid and Barret surveyed the hyper young ninja with a curious air; aware that the bubbly youth was privy to some information that they weren't.

* * *

Cloud looked at Ali as she picked up her own sword from where it had clattered to a stop on the ground; the little girl had really grown up over the years. Gone was the adorable little three-year-old and in her place stood a young woman with a toned, elegantly muscled frame, her blond hair was layered to the waist with a side fringe that swept gracefully across her brow. Ali's skin was much more tanned now, due to her rigorous training in Junon, most of which was executed outside.

"I was told you were dead, like Mom. How did you survive Sephiroth's attack?"

The teen looked up as she heard her brother's voice: for too long she had forgotten what he sounded like and now the overwhelming sense of Déjà vu was setting in, bringing the young girl on a nostalgic memory-trip. She straightened up and smirked in a melancholy fashion as one night replayed within her mind's eye.

"Mom hid me when he came and I climbed out the back window before the house caught fire. When I saw Tifa running for the reactor, I tried to follow her, but a SOLDIER with black hair stopped me and told me to run as far away from the village as I could, I did what he said, guess I was lucky I did, huh?"

Cloud smirked as Ali raised her blond eyebrows in a lightly joking fashion, his mind having only now made the connecting links between her saviour and a rather cheeky and happy-go-lucky friend of his.

"That's another thing I owe Zack for."

Just to have something to do and stop herself from fidgeting awkwardly, Ali bent down to the floor for a second time and retrieved the other Buster Sword, then straightened up and handed her brother his blade, her glowing blue eyes riddled with confusion as the next of her queries seemingly blurted itself out; she had wanted to ask him this for as long as she could remember.

"Where were you Cloud? You promised me you'd come back."

A stab of guilt literally pierced right through his heart as he heard her voice asking this, and then the young man sat down on the first bench of the rising stand of bleacher-like stands against the far wall of the training hall, motioning for her to do the same, then, over the next hour or so, he told her of the events that had prevented his return home. Of Zack Fair, Hojo, Sephiroth, Shinra, AVALANCHE, Aerith Gainsborough, Meteor, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, the Geostigma and then he told her of his family, only to gain a delighted gasp from the fifteen-year-old in return.

"I have a niece?"

"Mmmm hmmm, she's eighteen months now."

"Awww, I so have to see her! You married Tifa, huh? I bet you're happy her dad isn't around to see that!"

Cloud smirked as he nodded his spikey head in agreement, looking up at the sound of the door opening and everyone re-entering the large hall, having spent long enough being filled-in on the facts by Tifa, with inputs from Yuffie every so often. Kas then came running up to her father, who scooped her up into his strong arms, a true smile on his face for the first time in months, a sight Tifa was only too happy to bear witness to as Cloud turned to his younger sister.

"Ali, meet your niece; Kisara, but we all call her Kas."

The fifteen-year-old looked at the baby and smiled as she saw the evidence of her family strains; she definitely had the Strife face, with the gentle curve of her nose and slender chin, and yet with the wider cheeks that were reminiscint of Tifa's.

"Hi sweetie."

Tifa smiled with amusement as Cloud handed Kas over to Ali; the toddler quickly became fixated with the shiny SOLDIER badge pinned to the left breast of the uniform, adamantly trying to disengage this new interesting shiny object from the garment.

"Do you have anywhere to stay, Ali?"

Ali looked up at the sound of the familiar voice and found her gaze to be locked with that of the woman who had once-upon-a-time babysat her, and was incidentally now her sister-in-law. The teen nodded her head, smiling as her niece babbled away and tried all her harder to liberate the SOLDIER badge.

"Shinra SOLDIER accommodation in Healin Lodge."

Tifa frowned as she heard the answer, not at all happy with it. Sure, the Geostigma treatment clinic had been made redundant after the mass curing of the Geostigma epidemic and it was now leased by the Shinra company and utilized as apartments for employees; the rooms were of the highest standard and nothing to complain about, but Healin was a bit away and the woman had a better idea, speaking with a sincere tone to her voice.

"Like hell, you're coming to live with us!"

"I…I don't want to intrude, you guys have a family -"

The teenager attempted to explain her reason for declining the generous offer, but it was truly futile as Cloud's wife cut her short with a knowing smile and finishing the conversation with a few simple, yet meaningful words of her own.

"And you're part of it now."

**A/n- what u guys think; better/worse than original if u read it? Let me know anyway peeps!! Luvs ye!! XxxxxxxxxxxX**

**Author's Footnote;** _Kisara Aerith Strife is my own oc, the main character from my "Overcoming The Past" fic; she's modelled on the appearance of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Kisara, but her personality is oc. Bobby is another oc, and as all Final Fantasy fans will have already guessed; Selphie is in fact Selphie Tilmitt from FFVIII (8), I just always thought she suited the role of Tseng and Elena's daughter; call me disillusioned if you want, lol!! _Thanks huns!!


	2. Chris

**Author's Note;** Hey huns; here's da second rewritten chapter so please let me know what you guys think- if it's better, worse or indifferent to the origninal incarnation...talks to ye all soon huns!! Kas:-) XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

* * *

Ali ran down the stairs as fast as she could, her mind scolding her for being late for work, her sword swinging in the holster Cloud had given her; much like his own, capable of holding all six blades when separated…she'd become accustomed to the house after four months of living in it and just about managed to avoid a collision with Denzel at the last step, a problem she'd been unable to avoid on her first time descending the flight…

Cloud could only smirk amusedly as he saw her run past, frantically tying her long golden locks up in a rough bun. He then chuckled with a knowing air as his little sister disappeared out the door, with all of AVALANCHE looking on, being slightly startled by the now-familiar blond blur that had just blown through the bar, they all looked to the door as Cloud began counting down aloud.

"Three…two…"

Then, just as he made to voice the last in the descending scale of three numbers, Ali suddenly appeared and looked poignantly at her smirking older brother, the look of one who had been duped upon her elegant features as she nodded her head slightly and spoke in a knowing voice.

"Today's Saturday, isn't it?"

"Mmmm hmmm…"

"Jerk! I'm going upstairs to change!"

Cloud just shook his spikey head, smirk widening as she walked back the way she'd just run and backtracked up the stairs to her room; just a spare room they had cleared out and given Ali the run of…she'd forgive him soon enough and it had been an amusing start to the morning…

The teenager had fitted right into his life, almost as though she'd been the missing part of the complex jigsaw puzzle for ages now; AVALANCHE had welcomed the girl immediately and Tifa was only too happy to play a partial-mother to her. And as for him, Cloud was no longer tormented by the guilt-ridden nightmare that had haunted him for months on end- he now slept peacefully and had ceased becoming reclusive.

Ali was back in the bar a few minutes later, having changed out of her SOLDIER uniform and into a pair of black jeans, white belly-top and black denim jacket. Cid then looked from one Strife sibling to the other, chuckling amusedly as he did so.

"Y'all look like two twins!"

As a few laughs formed the rebuttal of this comment, it rang just how true the statement was; Cloud and Ali were almost the mirror image of one another, with the narrow chins and slightly curved noses of the Strife family. As she looked on and gave a laugh, Yuffie smirked as she spoke.

"Somehow, I just don't think the belly-top would suit you Cloud!"

Ali helped her brother with his deliveries that day, forgiving him for letting her believe she had work today. With her SOLDIER wages, which amounted to an impressive sum, the teenage girl had purchased her own motorbike and Cloud had helped her to "modify" it; just like his own sleek motorcycle, Fenrir…but her bike only resembled his in some ways; Cid had helped a lot when it had come to adding her own individual alterations aswell.

* * *

"You're late, yo…"

Ali already knew who was talking to her before she raised her head and found her eyes to be resting upon the redhead who had been hitting on her the day of her arrival in Edge four months ago…but she was definitely not in the mood for his irking at nine o'clock on a Monday morning.

"Fuck you Reno! I am not late!"

The Turk continued to tap poignantly at the digital watch on his left wrist quite adamantly, shaking his fiery head whilst sporting a trademark grin as he continued to speak in his almost arrogant voice.

"It's 9.02…ya supposed to be in since nine, yo…"

"Good boy! When did you learn how to read the time?"

The teenage SOLDIER widened her eyes with mock enthusiasm as she found slight entertainment in humouring her colleague. Reno winked at her and grinned as he played along; in Shinra at nine in the morning, any amusement was welcome.

"Elena taught me yesterday yo; cos Tseng was sick of me being late!"

Ali just laughed as she followed him through the corridors to the briefing hall in which she had stood four months ago and been reunited with her older brother after years of separation. After a minute or two of silent walking, the curious teenager that she was came to the fore and Ali found herself yawning as she asked the Turk why he was chaperoning her today.

"So why're you on pick-up duty this morning?"

Reno then smirked as he looked down the couple of inches that separated their height, so as he was staring down at her and grinned all the wider as he spoke.

"You forgot already, yo? The new guy is here and I was sent to find you."

Ali unintentionally slapped a hand to her forehead, cursing as she did so; she actually had forgotten! Junon were sending down a teenage boy who had surpassed the rest of the Standard Ranks; he was to be trained-in as a 1st Class by her and she'd just let the whole thing slip her mind…Reno just laughed on, jolting Ali back to the present as she heard the fun he was having at her expense, and then the teen attempted to defend herself with a rather pathetic and, if truth be told, childish tone to her voice.

"I didn't forget! I just-"

"Didn't remember, yo?"

She elbowed the assassin as he finished her sentence for her, obviously enjoying this at her expense. Ali just smirked and took the dig-in as she let the security device on the heavy door scan her retina, opening into the vast briefing hall that took up the rear of the new building.

The two employees then walked in to find Tseng, Rude and Elena already there, along with two Junon training scouts, who were escorting the new teenage boy, also curious as to see how well Ali had progressed since departing their tutelage. And then, standing in his trademark three-piece white suit was everybody's boss; the deceptively young Rufus Shinra.

"_Attention_!"

As this sharp command reverberated throughout the hall, Ali and the four Turks reacted on instinct, having had this very action drummed into their heads since the initiating of their earliest training; standing feet square, chests out, shoulders slanting slightly backwards and chins raised just high enough to indicate they were probably a lot stronger than you. The scouts then circled, eyeing the four, more so Ali, and then nodded, apparently having seen enough and pleasantly impressed.

"At ease."

The older of the two males spoke the two words wearily, as though he had spoken the command too many times for it to register any meaning to him anymore. Upon hearing this pair of short words, the four relaxed their stances a bit, to ones of comfort rather than sharp and strict composure.

"Chris! Front and centre, now!"

The younger of the scouts called loudly in a barking, military tone of voice; in retaliation to this order, a lad with black hair and sharp grey eyes appeared, dressed in a SOLDIER uniform, and stood to attention in front of them, not blinking once as Reno decided to have a walkabout, scanning the youth up and down for the hell of it.

"Here you go, Ali; he's all yours now."

The more aged of the scouts smiled kindly at her as he handed over the lad's files; he had trained the girl to an extent when she was eleven and had delighted to hear she had successfully become the first of Shinra's newest incarnation of SOLDIER. Ali took the new teen's profile with a small nod and flash of her smirk; she was to be this young man's CO, his Commanding Officer, in other words she would act as his mentor in SOLDIER. The girl then opened up the first page of the file and ran her glowing gaze over his information page, taking in all of his details.

SOLDIER Submission Details

**Name;** Christopher Hewley

**Age**; 17

**Home;** Kalm

**History;** The son of Angeal Hewley, a former 1st Class member of SOLDIER (now deceased). Christopher grew up as an orphan on the streets of Kalm as his mother died when he was only young. The youth then enrolled in SOLDIER at the age of fourteen. Shows much promise.

Ali raised her head from the file as completed reading the information and then walked around the older teen, much like Reno had a few minutes earlier, only she was doing it for a reason; inspecting his physique…the lad was tall enough, well built and muscular; all likeable traits in an aspiring SOLDIER. The boy's skin was also tanned, much like her own, due to the exposure to the elements dealt with in Junon. After completing a full round, she stopped and stood, looking him in the face; he was cute by any female's standards, but she had a job to do.

"Christopher or Chris?"

The lad looked down as he answered, seeing as this girl was almost a foot shorter than him, which reflected her tender years in comparison with his own…but she was still his CO.

"Chris, ma'am."

The 1st Class nodded her head and, returning her gaze to his file for a second, looked back up into his sharp grey irises, picking up on the blue sheen that had been added by his exposure to Mako, although she knew it had nothing to do with the old-fashioned Mako showers used back in the day- these days Shinra relied more on expert training as Mako was only a feared myth to be put to rest…but the shimmer was strong, yet it still allowed his natural eye-colour to break through; this was a trait the young woman deftly picked up on and knew it to be the telltale _inherited_ glow of Mako- his father had been in SOLDIER so that explained it- still, it was intriguing to see the differences between the inherited glow and that of one who had endured Mako exposure.

"Says here that you're Angeal Hewley's son; that's one hell of a name to live up to in SOLDIER."

"I intend to make my own name, ma'am."

Ali half-chuckled as she heard this somewhat arrogant reply; give or take a week or two of his training regime and the over-confidence would soon be deftly knocked out of him.

"Your weapon of choice?"

"Buster Sword."

At this, she completed a double take and raised her blond eyebrows with interest, now that was an answer she liked to hear…although Ali had done quite well in her field exams with an ordinary Katana, she had always preferred the wide mass of a Buster Sword…but she had to admit that, when only six years of age, when she had seen the then mighty Sephiroth when he had arrived at her hometown and Tifa having been babysitting her just before they arrived; her brother's wife had sent her back to her mother, but the little girl had stolen a glance up at the tall General and had even asked him with childish curiosity if he had any family before Vanessa Strife had ushered her away…and yet to this day, the feared Masamune he carried still fascinated her.

"Care to show me?"

At the request of his new Commanding Officer, the teenage lad reached behind his back and pulled out an old-style Buster Sword; no dismantling, just one huge, solid blade with a scratch here and there, other than that the sword was in pristine condition. Ali held out her hand as he seemingly hovered and dawdled over handing it to her, almost hesitating as he took in her smaller frame and registered how she was obviously younger than him.

"It's kinda heavy, ma'am."

Even Rufus smirked as he heard this; the young man knew nothing of his CO. The smaller teen took the impractically sized sword and swung it in a wide arc, keeping complete and masterful control over the large blade. She then handed it back to its dubious owner, speaking with a slight and pointedly amused smirk.

"It's a fair blade."

* * *

"Keep on your toes, Hewley!"

Ali shouted to her charge as he was knocked to the ground by a blow from Reno. She then sighed in an exasperated fashion; the boy had come from Junon with absolutely no hand-to-hand combating skills, and she and Reno had been giving him a crash course in Martial Arts for the past month since his arrival…but he was still exhibiting some weaknesses and blind spots, but Ali knew she had no right to be so ticked off with him; the youth had grown up as an orphan in Kalm and had no past-experience with Martial Arts…they were kind of alike in that sense; she had also grown up as an orphan and, upon enrolling at ten, had had no experience of hand-to-hand combat, but the young girl had shown a highly unusual aptitude for the fighting style and had excelled at a truly amazing rate…she'd done the same throughout all of her training and nobody knew why, not even Ali herself, but she was not one to flaunt her talents unless they were called for- there was a fine line between skill and pompousness.

But despite his few weak points, Chris was a quick learner and a good student, putting all advice to good use and never ignoring any of her words. What Ali had at first mistaken to be arrogance had since revealed itself to be an unflinching determination to prove he was worthy of the name Hewley…a want that stemmed from the fact that he'd barely known his father; the man had never intended to father a son but one thing had led to another and Angeal had become a Dad, but SOLDIER had called with the training of other troops and the pressure of the Wutai war back then…still, Angeal had visited Kalm once or twice a month and had supported Chris's mother with gil, remained a father-figure to his son and had married the young Kalm woman as his pride demanded of him. Then the month had come when Angeal had visited no more and Chris had waited for him, being only a child and looking forward to the short visit of the tall, admirable SOLDIER that was his Dad…but then the letter had arrived from Shinra, vaguely detailing of how Angeal Hewley had been listed as a member of the KIA employees…_Killed In Action_…that term was the worst thing a SODLIER-wife ever wanted to hear, especially when all information was refused to be disclosed and the burial had consisted of a compulsory closed-casket and no inquiry was held; suspicious circumstances that the then-small boy had forced to stick in his memory and would keep there till the day that heralded the truth arrived…

Ali automatically slapped Reno lightly round the back of his head as the Turk gloated at his victory and outstretched a hand to Chris, pulling the seventeen-year-old to his feet with a small smirk as Reno threw a swear or two her way…she then looked to the taller SOLDIER.

"Take up your stance, Hewley."

Chris did as instructed and leaned back into his fighting stance, awaiting the advice from Ali as she ran her glowing blue eyes over him and scowling slightly as he heard her address him by his surname. For the first couple of days he had been extremely pissed at having a girl for a CO, let alone one that was almost two years his junior, but Ali Strife had proven to be quite the skilled SOLDIER in every aspect of the title. Though he had to admit there was one thing that pissed him off still, and that was her habit of calling him _Hewley_, never _Chris_; it annoyed the shit out of him and she knew it, gaining amusement and satisfaction from his obvious distaste of the military-style addressing.

Ali studied his stance for a second or two, and then began mentally correcting his small yet crucial mistakes, before speaking and leaning closer as she righted his wrongs without even thinking about it.

"Okay, widen your feet a little…relax your shoulders."

These actions were carried out as she listed them and then leaned away from him, still running her almost piercing gaze over his form as she crossed her arms thoughtfully for a second before nodding slightly. Ali then paused, studying him once more for good measure, and then placed her hands on his, gently pushing them down a little to emphasize her last point as it seemed to be his biggest downfall.

"And lower your fists a bit."

Chris didn't know why he did it; he'd never had that reaction before, having inherited his father's honest and stoic approach to things, and yet he blushed upon feeling Ali's fleeting touch over his fists. All the young man could do was pray that she didn't notice as the blond teen walked away, having corrected his mistakes as her post of CO entailed…it seemed as though she hadn't taken any notice as Ali continued to walk away, talking to the redheaded Turk as she did so.

"He's all yours, Reno."

But his hopes were dashed as the exploiting side of the girl came to the fore and she made a point of looking over her shoulder, winking at her pupil, with a seductive yet highly amused smirk; knowing exactly how to best annoy him at that mortifying moment.

"By the way; your cheeks are the same colour as Reno's hair…_Hewley_."

The door opened about two hours later and in walked AVALANCHE and Reeve Tuesti; founder of the World Regenesis Organization- it was also thanks to the man that Chris had enrolled in SOLDIER; after defecting from Shinra a number of years ago, he'd developed roots and ties to the town of Kalm. And when recruiting for the early incarnation of his now-renowned WRO, Reeve had come across Chris and had noticed the lad's obvious strength and Mako-glimmering eyes…even back then Reeve had noticed that the fourteen-year-old had had much more potential than that of a WRO troop and had paid for the youth's fair to Junon, knowing he would end up in SOLDIER some how, and the rest was history.

"_Owww_ fuck, yo!"

As her ears picked up on the pained swear, Ali spun from looking at the entering group of people to see Reno sitting on his butt on the tiled floor of the training hall, Chris being the one to remain standing this time around. And then, possibly fuelled by her delight that the newest member of SOLDIER improving, Ali found herself calling to the floored Turk in a smart, cheeky voice that reflected upon her young years.

"Aha, whooped!"

She laughed as Reno merely stuck his tongue out and, as Chris looked at her with his pleased Mako-tinted grey eyes, it was Ali's turn to blush…to shield herself from Chris noticing and repaying her earlier exploiting, the teenage girl hastily turned her back on him and walked over to AVALANCHE. The group had become her family somewhere in the five months that had culminated in her time living in Edge, and what a family of mis-fits they were, but it was the best thing she'd had in years…As Rufus looked at his newest SOLDIER standing by her older brother, Tseng walked past and spoke with the air of one mildly amused as he surveyed Reno only now getting up off of the ground, then eyed the First Tsurugi holstered on Cloud's back and raised an ebony eyebrow in Ali's direction, noticing how her cheeks seemed a bit flushed.

"Why don't you two show our newest SOLDIER how to really handle a Buster Sword?"

Ali and Cloud grinned at each other like two little children; like any other siblings they loved fighting and insulting each other to no end, but with good humour and rarely crossed the line between joking and insulting…rarely. Both blonds then drew their intimidating, yet similar swords; the two blades were much different to Chris's in that they consisted of six separate and interlocking smaller swords. He watched as the huge swords were dismantled into several component blades and then thanked the heavens that his weapon was the older version, for he would be hard pushed to remember how each blade handled and which one interlocked with the other, let alone dealing with the added stress of fighting whilst carrying out this assembly.

Ali and Cloud sparred for about twenty minutes straight, ending with the little sister knocking her brother to the ground and pointing one of her pair of serrated blades at his exposed throat, having noticed a weak spot just as her bro's Braver Limit had been utilized. Cloud smirked as Ali defeated him and pinned him by the jugular; a move that was amidst the early stages of SOLDIER training…the young man then dropped his own sword in surrender, smirking as he spoke.

"You win."

Ali nodded her blond tresses, grinned smugly and held out a hand, pulling her brother to his feet. Cid was to be seen handing Vincent ten gil whilst scowling and grumbling, having decided to bet his money on the hero of the Jenova War to win the simple sparring match and evidently disgruntled at the outcome of the fight he and the pale man had just wagered over.

* * *

It was another hour or so before AVALANCHE departed the training hall, Reeve having been discussing defence coalition with Rufus for that span of time, but 7th Heaven needed to be tended to, and somebody had to be there to drink the alcohol, e.g. Cid Highwind or even Reno who was due to clock out in another hour and would surely be found at the pub by the time the night hours approached.

"Don't be too late, Ali!"

Ali laughed as she nodded her head as Tifa called to her young sister-in-law, her husband literally pushing her out the door of the training hall…Tifa had deftly taken over the role of a mother to her the young woman was a very maternal person by nature and now she worried over Ali working too late, not getting enough sleep, eating proper meals; just like she did with her children and to the young prodigy of SOLDIER, it felt oh so good to have that secure feeling of a family back- she'd missed it for far too long.

Over the next couple of hours, Reno was made redundant as the two SOLDIERs moved into their Mako-induced speed; even though the redheaded Turk was famed for his superior agility amidst the uniformed assassins, he was still a bit slower than that of a fully-fledged SOLDIER, but found solace and utter amusement in Ali whooping Chris's butt repeatedly whilst a few of the newest Turk trainees struggled to even keep track of the two teens due to the sheer speed that Mako radiation caused, even if it was inherited on Chris's behalf- Ali's reason for her speed was yet to be known but he just merely assumed Junon scouts had induced her with Mako when she'd enrolled and the substance was still being used freely.

It was almost eleven o'clock that night when training finally finished up. Ali walked into the front lobby and stared out the glass-panel doors in dismay; it was lashing rain outside and she'd walked to work this morning as a result of her bike needing a service. The teenager absolutely despised walking in the rain; it always brought back the rather painful memories of the night her home was destroyed…as the houses had burned to the stark ground of the sleepy mountain village, known as Nibelheim, the heavens had opened up and it had begun to rain hard and heavy, almost as though nature were trying to wash away the evidence of Sephiroth's descent into madness…or maybe lamenting a village of lost victims? Upon Zack instructing her to run as far away as she could, the six-year-old Ali had trudged for miles in the downpour, stumbling and falling frequently upon the undulating dirt road until she had eventually collapsed; her small body too exhausted and worn out to carry on. An elderly man, walking home from a nearby neighbour's had found the tiny bundle lying in the middle of the small road, soaked through by the pelting rain and barely alive as he had tried to wake her, only to gain an incoherent and almost inaudible groan. He had picked up the child and carried her to his home, where he and his equally elderly wife had cared for the girl until the days of their deaths; four years later. Ali, only a tender ten years of age at that stage had initiated her travelling once more, winding up in Junon somehow and enrolling in Shinra's revered paramilitary force; the mighty SOLDIER…she knew it had been the far-fetched hope of seeing Cloud that had inspired her to join the then-ruthless army. To this day it wasn't the wet of the rain, nor the cold that caused her to become so loathsome of the whether condition, but just the thought of walking in it; if she had a bike to gain a ride from, then she'd gladly get soaked through atop the motorcycle, just not walk in the downpour, anything but walk in it.

Coming out of her reveries and snapping back to the present, Ali looked around the near-empty lobby in the search of anyone to leech a lift off of; even Rufus and the Turks would be at 7th Heaven by now; there goes her ride anyhow! Just as she was about to go against her subconscious hatred for the rain and push open the glass door without any other choice but to get wet and relive her memories, a voice halted her.

"No bike, ma'am?"

She turned around, already knowing it to be the lad, and saw the tall figure of Chris standing a couple of feet behind her and smirked up at him with a good-natured sigh as she absently scratched the side of her head with a light chuckle; if she spent longer in the lobby maybe the rain would ease off a bit- anything to prolong her from walking in the wet.

"Nah; left it at home for an oil change, and my name's Ali, not ma'am."

"And mine's Chris, not Hewley."

The teen couldn't help but to laugh at his lightening-fast retort; she knew it annoyed the lad when she referred to him by his surname the whole time, but it was the only amusement she had gained and it was fast becoming a habit, but she may aswell nip it in the bud at this stage before Chris became pissed off with her trait.

"Fair enough."

Ali looked up at him as she answered. Chris was attractively tall, muscular, Mako-shimmering steel-grey eyes and the messy shock of black hair, whose bangs fell forwards over his face in a fashion that only served in endearing him further by her reckoning.

"Need a lift then…Ali?"

He took out the keys to his own motorbike and gestured to her whilst lightly nodding his head out at the voraciously driving rain that assaulted the glass panes of the door. Blinking in surprise, Ali deftly nodded her head whilst immediately flashing her wide grin at the prospect of not walking in the oppressive memory-inducing downpour.

"I wouldn't turn one down."

Chris then led his CO to the Shinra garages about a floor or two below, where his bike was left during work. Ali hopped on behind him and wrapped her slim arms around his waist as they sped out into the rain-drenched streets of Edge, suddenly over-thankful that she'd decided to hang on in the lobby for those extra few seconds.

* * *

The two arrived outside 7th Heaven a couple of minutes later, the trip only being a short one; another factor as to why the blond teen had decided to not use her bike that dry morning. Chris watched as Ali climbed off his motorcycle from behind him. His Commanding Officer was a very attractive teenager; with long natural bright blond tresses, clear bronzed skin, toned figure and those almost ethereal glowing blue eyes…Chris could feel himself blushing again as he realized he was staring into Ali's eyes, even more so when he noticed she was gazing back into his own. He stood and looked down at her, feeling awkward to no end as the rain and cold suddenly vanished and all that remained was the two voices inside his head, one saying "_Kiss her_!" and the other screaming "_She's your CO_!"…And all this was accompanied by that swelling self-consciousness in his chest tat made him feel like an immature kid once again.

Then Ali leaned forward, and Chris made to slide his arms around her…but one of the duelling voices of his conscience kept reign over his movements- trust now to be self-righteous!

"You're my CO…"

The younger girl smirked as she heard his reason for pulling back slightly form her; he was considerate at least and that only added another tick beside his name in her ratings. With a small understanding smile, Ali spoke low, shrugging lightly so as to accentuate their change of location.

"In Shinra, yeah, but outside work I'm just a teenager…Chris."

She had called him by his name and that served good enough for him. Chris smirked and lowered his head slightly, accepting her words and letting Ali link her arms around his broad neck…the two then stood there in the rain kissing deeply as their teenage personalities came to the fore above that of their SOLDIER personas.

* * *

Denzel sighed and pulled the curtains open a crack, staring out the pub window and into the depressing downpour that ruled the world beyond the double-glazed pane. He had been doing this every twenty minutes or so by now, just to annoy Reno who was sitting under the open window, and whose neck was struck with an icy blast of air each time the ten-year-old opened the curtains. The young boy found it amusing as the Turk made to grab for him each time, only to have a mothering Cissnei scold him for attempting to hurt the innocent little hazel-haired boy.

But this time as he stared out at the dying rain, something caught his blue eyes; a bike that hadn't been there the last time and two individuals dressed in SODLIER uniforms. Denzel recognized the two teenagers and immediately turned to the group of people, grinning as he suddenly found a new source of entertainment besides causing Reno grief. The ten-year-old was masterful in the way he chose to voice his query just loud enough so as to gain attention; his words would do the rest for him…

"Is Ali supposed to be snogging the new SOLDIER?"

Synchronized comically as one, all the males scrambled for the window, but Cloud and Rufus headed directly for the door…only for Tifa to stand in their way and point to their vacated seats with a poisonous glare that would make even Sephiroth shrink in stature as she spoke in an icy and quite obviously commanding tone of voice.

"Sit, both of you, now!"

**A/n- well what you guys think of the rewrite; let me know ppls, nd if there's any suggestions on how to improve the plot then let me know, u know I'll adore you for it hun!! Kas:-) XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX ****Author's Note;** There is no evidence to suggest that Angeal had any ties to Kalm or that he was romantically involved before dying but I'm just utilizing author's license, kay ppls?

* * *


	3. Attack

**Author's Note;** Hey huns, so sorry about the wait in updating this fic- all the old chapters were on my Mam's old laptop and since I got mine, all my stuff was transferred over, except for Sephiroth's Secret...so I had to go find a memory stick, find them on the old laptop and change the format for Vista in stead of XP...oh, the joys, lol! Anyways, here's the new chapter and it runs long, but it just wouldn't be the same if I shortened it or split it. So please tell me what you guys think!! XxxxxxxxxX

* * *

"Happy birthday, Ali!"

Marlene smiled up sweetly from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing as she so often did these days- always family-orientated sketches, but that only served in making them more endearing to the eyes of an adult for it provided one of those seldom glimpses at the world through the benign and innocent eyes of a child.

"Thanks honey; I'll see you guys later!"

The teenager looked at the picture and smiled brightly, grabbing a slice of toast before she passed through the kitchen with a smirk as she caught the sight of Kas throwing a spoonful of cereal at Denzel, hitting him square between the eyes. The blond teen then buckled her holster into place and automatically slid all of the blades into their allocated brackets. Today was one of the most pivotal days in any teenage girl's life; her sixteenth birthday. Ali had been living with Cloud and Tifa for just under eight months now and she loved Edge; she knew every shortcut and back alley thanks to her helping Cloud with his business whenever she had a day off, but what she found most fulfilling was the long-lost sense of a home she'd found in Edge. These days, if she ran late at work, Tifa would make it her almost motherly duty to ring the Shinra building and enquire about her sister-in-law, making sure she was okay. On the odd evening that Tifa didn't call Cloud would drop by after his last delivery for a sparring match or the want to trade a few comments with his little sister. For too long she'd been without a family and the girl felt eternally indebted to her brother and his wife for the new feeling of wholeness she had become accustomed to, for it felt as though she finally knew who she was and had a place to call home. One of the only ways she'd been able to even attempt to repay Cloud and Tifa's hospitality was to act as a babysitter whenever they needed…and according to Marlene, who was deceptively more attentive than her tender years suggested, the two were a lot closer now.

The noise of the door opening jolted the teenager back to reality; she smiled at Cid and Shera as the duo entered 7th Heaven, with Shera giving her a birthday wish aswell- in the past number of months, she had become more than a part of Cloud and Tifa's family- it seemed as though all of AVALANCHE had accepted her aswell…and it felt good.

Upon throwing a glance down at her watch, the young woman kicked into overdrive and headed outside before she found herself late for work. The sun was shining warmly down upon Edge as Ali kicked up the stand and revved her motorcycle's engine, heading for the Shinra building- Reno had become rather annoying since learning how to read the time, and he would cop it even if you were a minute late these days- though all in jest.

* * *

The streets were beginning to fill with the daily punters as the teenage girl hastily jogged up the front steps of the company building. The revolving door made a light whooshing sound as Ali walked through it and into the expansive lobby and made a bee-line straight for the SOLDIER briefing hall. She'd fast become accustomed to the near-identical corridors and now knew most of them off by heart- mostly due to the fact that she had used this one almost everyday since being stationed in Edge…almost eight months ago now.

"Welcome Ali."

As the security-enhanced door slid open, the synthesized female voice chimed eerily…the noise never failed to creep the girl out, or fill her with the anticipation that came when entering the hall- it was where a SOLDIER reined supreme. She first reported to Tseng, explaining why she was not wearing her SOLDIER uniform today; the washing machine had broken last night and Cloud and Denzel had attempted to fix it…not resulting in the saving of the machine, but rather in Tifa dishing out gil for a brand new one, due to arrive in the morning, as were the tillers to fix her flood-damaged floor; Cloud and Denzel had understandably avoided Tifa all last night and Cloud was paying for the new tiles.

A wolf-whistle was heard as she walked across the huge hall, it causing the teen to turn around, knowing she what she would see; Reno smirking, his eyes on her chest. The young 1st Class was wearing black jeans, ripped at the knees and a low-cut blue top, whose plunging neckline really accentuated her bust. Hiding a laugh and with a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, Ali folded her arms across her chest, speaking as she tapped a foot on the smooth ground.

"My eyes are up here, Reno…"

"I ain't interested in your eyes, yo- _oww_!"

As the redheaded Turk exclaimed indignantly, Elena frowned and shook her blond head; she having lightly slapped her lanky comrade around the back of his head, earning a feigned yelp of pain as Reno smiled broadly, causing the woman to laugh as she spoke.

"Pervert!"

As she smiled upon watching the anecdotes of Reno and Elena, Ali jumped slightly as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and heard a familiar voice speaking into her right ear, his breath warm on the back of her neck as the words were heard.

"Happy birthday…"

The newly sixteen-year-old turned around slightly to see her boyfriend; Chris Hewley. She still blushed slightly whenever anyone referred to them as a couple…it was still all so new and Ali was taking her time in getting used to her new title as a girlfriend…it just seemed so strange and even no her cheeks were filling with redness. Denzel had ratted them out when he'd seen them outside that night and Ali had entered 7th Heaven to find every single face staring at her…with Cloud and Rufus sporting rather poignant glares. Chris had text her that night and things had more or less sprouted from there. Even now, Cloud still wasn't all that happy about her and Chris- he was her big brother and he was protective. The couple had given the papers a field day when they had gotten together, almost three months ago now…The Turks, Avalanche. Rufus Shinra and the two SOLDIERs had found great fun in reading through all the different headlines. Two of the favourites had been; "Shinra'sStrife" and "Romance of the Buster Swords".

"Have there been any more sightings?"

As he heard her question, Chris shook his head. Ali was referring to Sephiroth and three silver-haired individuals; they'd been spotted on-and-off for the past two months now, each time appearing closer to Edge. Cloud swore out loud for two days straight upon hearing the first rumours; the last words Sephiroth spoke those two years ago coming back from out of the blue to haunt him yet again.. Only this time it was different- he had a wife, a daughter and a little sister…but what the entire planet was now asking was why this Nightmare wouldn't just lie down and leave them be whilst they tried to get their lives back on track; didn't the people of Gaia deserve that much?

"Happy birthday Ali."

The smooth, refined voice seemingly manifested from out of nowhere and served in jolting the teens out of whatever reveries their minds had digressed into. Now aware once again, Chris hastily removed his hands from his girlfriend's waist as their boss, Rufus, passed by with a sly smirk whilst his blue eyes were cast momentarily skywards.

* * *

By noon that day, the Shinra building was a bustling hive of activity as numerous calls had come in, reporting some rather disturbing news, setting the computer technicians into overdrive. The training room had entered a lull since the techs began their work…waiting, almost anticipating news from the computer experts- not exactly the best thing to happen on a girl's sixteenth birthday. Tifa had suggested she take the day off from work to enjoy her birthday, but Ali had refused- she liked working in SOLDIER- it was a new thing everyday and when you love your job, it hardly seemed as though you work at all.

The teen sighed as she looked around- Reno was sparring with a few of the older Turks, including Rod and Cissnei. Cissnei…she was Reno's girlfriend and the mother within Shinra to all its employees. The woman had been the youngest Turk ever employed in the force, her talents having been spotted when she was only a child, in an orphanage down in the Slums. Reno and Cissnei had known each other for years before finally deciding to give it a go together, and they seemed good as a couple…Cissnei was something akin to the Tifa of Shinra, to put it simply.

Ali's glowing blue eyes glanced around a bit more, spotting some more of the Turks in the far corner, along with some WRO operatives who were here to collect some of Scarlet's salvaged files, in the hopes of maybe finding something in them that would concern DeepGround…though everyone knew why Reeve was so obsessed with the files- he was on a one-mind track in an attempt to unlock Shelke from her body. Over the past few months, Ali had been to the WRO base outside of Kalm a few times- once or twice with Cloud on deliveries, but also for Shinra purposes aswell. She'd seen Shelke on a number of occasions, first believing the girl to be only about Denzel's age- it had been a shock to discover Shelke was in fact older than herself. But, in the wake of DeepGround, Reeve had been working his hardest to try and overcome the seemingly-little girl's non-aging factor…though many speculated it was in memory of her older sister, Shalua, which Reeve went to such lengths for.

A bang was heard as Reno managed to swipe Rod's feet from under him- only Cissnei left now. Ali chuckled lightly as she thought this- there was no way Reno would take on his girlfriend. He'd most likely beat her, but Reno wouldn't do that- despite his laid-back nature and flirtatious attitude, Reno was the perfect gentleman to his girlfriend and he seemed to have quietened down slightly since picking up with her.

The newly-turned sixteen-year-old smirked to herself as she saw Reno drop his fighting stance against Cissnei…but Rod, still lying on his back, took the opportunity to swipe his fellow red-head's feet from under him in a pay-back fashion that had Cissnei laughing out loud as Reno struck the floor heavily- the Turks; a whole family of their own within the company. The amusing scene within the large training hall was abruptly shattered by the heavy door opening and one of the more senior computer technicians rushing in, calling out as she did so.

"Mr. Shinra; we've located Kadaj and his brothers!"

Rufus was lightning-quick in taking the printout from the girl's trembling hand and casting a glance over it, before handing the sheet of paper to his senior 1st Class, who had wandered down from her perch upon the stands- abandoning her observing of the sparring Turks. As she read down it, Rufus spoke to the girl in a serious tone.

"Ali, ring Cloud and AVALANCHE; the rest of you, gear up for a fight!"

Ali nodded her head as Elena took the page and gasped upon seeing the location of their attackers; the three were attacking the centre of Edge; where the Meteor monument had recently been restored- that part of the city would be crowded at this time of the day, Reno was next to examine the sheet as Ali nodded her head, having called Cloud and explained as quickly as she could to her brother.

"We'll meet you guys there."

Ali exhaled as Cloud hug up on his end, his voice as serious as she'd ever heard it. Barely thinking, the teen turned on her heel and headed for the garage, along with Chris and the four Turks. She found herself actually hoping that He would show up with the remnants; the monster had a hell of a lot to answer for in her books…her mother; Vanessa, her neighbours, her home…he was the whole reason she'd been kept from Cloud for so long and missed out on so much.

* * *

It was obvious to see things were bad when the six arrived at the main square of Edge City; Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz seemed to be much more powerful than their previous attacks- a worrying factor had been how their power seemed to jump every time they showed up…over the last two months, they'd been steadily growing in strength. Ali assessed the situation in the blink of an eye; mostly gashes and cuts; Cloud's arm looked dislocated aswell…but everyone else had their hands full with the other two remnants and the countless Shadow Creepers they'd summoned. As he too glanced around the square and took in the damage, Tseng whispered in her ear.

"Any ideas on this one, Ali?"

The teenager smirked slightly as only one plan formed in her mind, the answer spilling from her lips almost automatically.

"Yeah actually, don't get killed!"

Reno couldn't help but laugh as he heard her words- normally the comments and remarks were left to him on these occasions.

"I so love that plan, yo!"

A hastened look around to see who needed some help the most had Ali sending her comrades left and right to help out their friends with their adversaries, whilst her blue eyes locked onto the person she knew needed a hand, her legs moving on autopilot.

"My turn!"

Ali spoke lowly as she leapt in front of her brother, taking up his fight with the silver-haired guy called Kadaj. Cloud breathed heavily as he welcomed the break; his arm was throbbing with fiery agony as it hung limply by his side. The remnants were much stronger than their past confrontations ad it was only now that it seemed, maybe…possibly that the protagonists were out of their depth a little. Reno was dealing with the long-haired remnant whilst Shinra's only other SOLDIER was clashing with the burliest of the three brothers. Chris had improved greatly since his arrival from Junon, but not enough to beat the behemoth know as Loz. The seventeen-year-old was thrown backwards by a heavy blow to the gut, landing in a heap along with a loud snapping sound that set the skin crawling on those who heard it. His tanned face grew slightly paler after the loud noise, but the lad didn't cry out.

As she managed to push back against Kadaj, and gain some much needed ground, Ali looked behind her whilst time allowed; AVALANCHE was more or less kept busy with the ever-growing number of Shadow Creepers, Rude had stepped into Chris's place and was going fist-to-fist with Loz whilst Tifa joined in and aided the large Turk, as Tseng backed Reno up with Yazoo…her blue eyes wandered a little more, taking in the sights of Yuffie half-way up a building as Vincent's Cerberus dealt with an additional three of the Shadow Creepers…Cloud's arm still hung limply as he managed to deal with a few attacking Creepers…Chris's foot was definitely broken, judging by the angle of it anyway- the sight of which caused the female SOLDIER to grimace lightly.

Having left her guard down, Kadaj managed a low blow to the gut that sent the girl back about fifteen feet, where she proceeded to curse her opponent with ever swear she'd ever heard Cid ad Barret utter since coming to Edge. With one last insult to his mother, compliments of Reno, Ali straightened and faced Kadaj…she stood still and took a deep breath, then raced forward at the blistering speed of one exposed to Mako on a regular basis in Junon. Loz and Yazoo seemingly lost interest in their individual brawls and approached their younger brother, all three attempting to stop the young girl, but the two new additions were in each other's line of fire and merely ended up injuring one another as Kadaj was sent crashing into a nearby building, compliments of a rather spiteful kick from the girl. Ali grinned as the last one, Yazoo, received a bullet to the shoulder, a bullet from Loz's Velvet Nightmare.

As Reno grinned and made to sprout a comment concerning her quick dealing with the trio, he stopped up short…with Cloud frowning and casting his gaze skywards swearing foully as he did so, for he knew exactly what was coming. Ali knew it too- she could sense him, but just couldn't turn quick enough before the foot had connected with her back, hearing her brother call out, mere seconds too late as she skidded across the ground.

"Behind you!"

"Nnnn…."

Pain…that was all she could register as her back met the unrelenting wall, her head snapping back and striking it aswell. Stars seemed to swim around the edges of her vision as the teenager groggily got back to her feet, cursing as she gingerly rubbed the back of her head, cringing.

He stood only feet in front of her, black wing unfurled in the light breeze and graceful Masamune in hand, glinting in the Edge sunshine. Anyone in his or her right mind would have been petrified upon the sight of this once-great hero, but no; Ali refused to be scared even in the slightest bit…she was much too angry for that as she stood her ground and glowered at this monster.

Several additional Shadow Creepers materialized from the ground and slunk forward a few steps, beginning to circle this new target with a malicious glint in their little beady eyes. Ali hardened her stance as they surveyed her, a blade in each hand.

"Don't be thick!"

Chris hissed at her upon seeing that his girlfriend intended on fighting; whatever about her defeating the Shadow Creepers, there was no way she could take on their master- she was a kid and him…he was the worst thing that had ever happened to Gaia. Sephiroth chuckled amusedly as he took in the sight of this mere little girl; he'd watched her fighting Kadaj and his brothers and he'd had to admit that her fighting style had been interesting and the the man was slightly impressed by her quick defeat of the three; she seemed more troublesome than he'd first thought a little girl to be capable of being…but still, she wouldn't defeat him. His smug smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as the man spoke in his sly voice whilst eyeing this girl and the young man behind her.

"Shinra has resorted to recruiting mere children; I thought Rufus would be above this?"

Sephiroth raised his gloved right hand and the Shadow Creepers leapt forward in response, glinting claws and saliva-dripping fangs drew closer all of a sudden. Ali braced herself for the painful impact, knowing she wouldn't be able to take this many of they attacked at once…but the pain never came. As she looked on in slight surprise, the five creatures stood before her, just looking up at the girl and refusing to attack her. At this, Sephiroth growled with anger- Ali wasn't the only one surprised as his jade eyes bore a small amount of shock also.

"Attack them!"

She fought back a smirk as he spoke in a clearly angered tone to the creatures. The teenager didn't know how, but a little voice deep inside assured her that she could control these things as they stood harmlessly in front of her, and she did so, with a dark smirk touching upon her lips as she spoke…maybe this would be payback for everything that had happened in Nibelheim all those years ago and her heart seemingly soared at the chance to avenge all those killed that night.

"Attack Sephiroth…"

This time the Shadow Creepers obeyed the command and spun on the one who had summoned them, defeated by the unsurpassed swordsman with little effort on his part. Ali felt her heart sink a little as Masamune easily dealt with the five beasts…she'd been too quick in assuming she could deal with this nightmare so easily…but the formidable ex- SOLDIER had seen more than enough in this girl's controlling of the Shadow Creepers; his calculating mind was reeling as he thought back rapidly- now feeling unsure of this girl he stood against; she seemed to have more about her than he initially presumed.

Feeling angered now and stubbornly wanting to hurt this monster, Ali leapt forward all of a sudden, using her Mako-induced speed to temporarily gain the upper hand. Sephiroth came back to his senses just in time, spinning and swiping Masamune, drawing even with the teenager's mostly- assembled Buster Sword. Ali made to swipe at him with the smaller hollow blade clutched in her left hand, but was blocked, her attack parried rather forcefully and the hollow blade being cast away as a result of the painful jolt…a kick to her side caused several cracking noises to emanate from the girl's ribcage, but her blue eyes soon locked onto the impending danger of Masamune approaching rather rapidly from her left side too quickly for her to fully avoid, or parry against…instead the girl pulled back sharply, earning herself a rather deep slash across her left cheek. As her hand automatically snapped up to the painful wound, her guard was dropped yet again…resulting in another ungraceful skid across the road, the tarmac wearing away at any exposed skin, causing numerous grazes and cuts to emerge.

And there it was again- rushing through the air like it had that night all those years ago- glinting, malicious and evil; Masamune came down swiftly and Ali clamped her blue eyes shut. She had nothing to defend herself with, her Buster Sword having been dropped somewhere along her skid and now lay on the ground a good twenty feet away. She'd thought it'd be simple to just fight him and possibly even taste revenge for all of her neighbours and family massacred…but it was only now that the teen realized just how out of her depth she actually was. The three remnants had been easy to deal with and their defeat had easily polished her ego unbeknownst to the teenager; she'd over-estimated herself to a dangerous extent and now that sword was coming down fast and heavy.

The sharp echo of metal clashing against metal was heard at the very last moment, along with what could have been described as a sigh of relief- mostly from Tifa. Ali cracked open an eyes to see what had obstructed Masamune's path…or more so; who.

"Cloud?"

"Get up, quick…"

And he was away, only one arm wielding the First Tsurugi as he clashed repeatedly with Sephiroth, making their way steadily back across the square, with Cloud gaining ground as his temper remained heightened- he'd just got his little sister back and was going to be damned if she was going to be taken from him for a second time.

Her blue eyes blinked once or twice with shock…Cloud shouldn't have had to do that- she should have never thought she could take Sephiroth like that; it had been childish and spiteful to ever think that she could and Ali suddenly felt her cheeks burning with shame as she realized her mistake- she could have cost everyone here their lives. As Cloud faltered slightly, obviously not in peak condition, his younger sister stood to her feet and ran forwards. Acting now on instinct and reactions, she remembered seeing Tifa fighting Loz and how her brother's wife had finished off with a Beat Rush and Somersault…Ali replayed the move in her mind as Cloud broke a sword clash with Sephiroth and she intervened into the gap, placing her foot against Sephiroth's chest and using what momentum she had to spin in mid-air, kicking his chin with poignant force. Before the once-upon-a-time hero could regain his composure, Cloud had re-entered the fray and managed to land his own kick, into the nightmare's ribcage. This sent the enemy crashing to the square below. Cloud was first to land and take up his stance with First Tsurugi, Ali landing neatly a few seconds later and stood, a little unsteady on her feet as her left cheek dripped blood onto the ground, not to mention the pain now coming from her own ribs…

As Sephiroth stood to his feet, clearly pissed off right now, and wiped the blood from his bleeding nose, Cid couldn't help himself from gloating slightly- that had been amusing to watch from ground-level…especially when Tifa had indignantly claimed Somersault as her move. Cloud and Ali worked well together…though it remained lucky that Cloud had intervened when he did.

"Atta girl, Ali!"

A few laughs, compliments of Reno and Barret echoed round the now rather silent square. As he heard the name Sephiroth felt his body freeze somewhat has a few forgotten memories rushed through his mind in an incomprehensible blur…it was impossible. He lowered Masamune and stared at the teenager standing before him, Mako-glowing green eyes now filled with obvious confusion that seemed so ill-placed. His deep, smooth voice was the next to be heard in the silent square as all other sounds had ceased upon seeing _confusion_ expressed openly by the ex-General of SOLDIER.

"Ali…Ali Strife, Cloud's younger sister?"

The blond nodded her head, albeit only barely- Cloud positioned himself so as he was in front of her, with his sword raised in a wary manner; ready for a rush or some class of sneaky blow from this enemy of the planet; he was playing her- trying to distract her so as Kadaj or one of his brothers could get an attack in somehow…but he wasn't dumb and wouldn't let it happen to his sis.

"Your mother was Vanessa Strife?"

"What's it to you?"

She was taken-aback by that question as Cloud answered in a spiteful tone that rang with hate- had he memorised the names of all the people he'd killed? Was the name of Tifa's father in there too? Countless Nibelheim inhabitants? President Shinra's? Aerith's? But what Ali found slightly unnerving was the look that now replaced confusion his Mako-green eyes, pride? As she eyed him with mounting trepidation, the middle-aged man continued to talk, though his voice had lost its menacing edge.

"Today is your sixteenth birthday…you look a lot like your mother, do you know that?"

At this, Cloud glanced back over his shoulder as he saw his little sister's body freeze and her stance falter ever so slightly, but what made him look back the most was the light sniff he heard. Now the teenager was angered and openly upset at the same time; how dare this monster talk about her mother? He had murdered her…he was the reason she was now an orphan and could barely remember anything about her mom…she'd been too young to memorise her mother's voice or anything…all she ever saw in dreams was a woman with blond hair, tied up in a bun…no face though; only a blur she couldn't decipher.

"You bastard! You're the reason my mom's dead!"

Angry tears stung as she made to walk forwards, Cloud grabbing her shoulders and holding the teen back forcefully as she tried to struggle her way free. Sephiroth eyed the square as he rose slowly…but he bore a genuinely sorrowful smile as he did so.

"You three let's go…"

The three remnants nodded as they heard the command of Mother's favourite. The graceful terrorist known as Sephiroth wiped the blood away from his still-bleeding nose and grimaced slightly with pain as he placed the other hand on his ribcage where one or two ribs were now cracked. The four enemies then disappeared, leaving a stunned square behind as Cloud finally let go of Ali and she fell heavily to the ground, sitting and sniffing lightly; this was turning out to be some birthday…a fight where she'd almost gotten herself killed because of some ego-polishing…saved by her brother from a murderer…her cheek was still bleeding badly, her ribcage in bits, cuts and scrapes thanks to the road surface not to mention the killer headache she now had compliments of colliding with the wall…she wanted to be a great SOLDIER since she was small and had always thought she'd been good at her job…but he was way out of her league at this stage…

A hand cupped her chin lightly and lifted her head until her eyes were locking with his. It was only as Cloud wiped away a tear or two that the teenager realized she'd been crying in the first place. He pulled her to her feet and the task began of damage control.

**A/n-**** Well, please tell me what you guys thought of this chapter!! And I promise the next one won't take so long in uploading, lol!! XxxxxxxxxxxxX**


	4. Secrets Revealed

**Author's Note;** Hey peoples!! Sorry about the wait, but school and whatnot calls this year, sorry hunis! Anyway, I hope you all like this rewritten chapter and please tell me what you think of it!! C yas!! XxxxxxxxxxxxX

* * *

The return to the Shinra building seemed to take ten times as long as it normally did, what with limping party members, a grumbling Barret and civilians that constantly hindered their progress with questions and ill-placed congratulations. Another aspect was the young teenager that lagged behind the rest of the group, almost ashamed to pull even with the revered AVALANCHE and Turk members. But eventually the rather battered group of people managed to arrive at the iconic new building in the west of Edge, all silent and seemingly lost in detached thoughts.

There were already numerous Shinra medical staff waiting to usher the injured of the party to the hospital wing of the new building, and they did just that. The group had gotten off pretty lightly in hindsight; a few scrapes and cuts covered the majority of the injuries, with the worst being Chris' broken leg and Cloud's dislocated shoulder.

"Smile yo; you're acting like Sephiroth won …"

Ali looked up as she heard the voice, knowing it to be a certain Turk's. Reno was looking at her, half-smiling yet half serious at the same to time. She'd been sitting in silence on the side of one of the hospital beds, idly swinging her legs back and forth. To placate the redhead, the teenager flashed a forced smile and stared into space, vaguely focusing in on Cloud, whom Tseng was aiding in re-locating his shoulder. A slight pop and the joint slid back into place. Whereas this caused the girl to squirm slightly it had no effect on anyone else present in the medical wing.

Reno was right - she was acting like Sephiroth had won the fight, but he had, hadn't he? Had it not been for Cloud intervening she'd be dead right now. And it wasn't as if he'd retreated with his tail between his legs either; the former hero had chosen to leave them alone, a fact Ali was secretly grateful of - Cloud and the gang wouldn't have been able to defeat him, and she'd have gotten in the way … again.

The teenager was saved from her self-berating thoughts by a nurse approaching her and beginning to take care of the numerous cuts and scrapes the girl sported, along with drawing blood for some reason; her ribs would have to heal with time though.

It was almost an hour later when Rufus entered the medical wing and walked over to Ali, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed, staring idly into space as she kept replaying the fight in her head. She'd been such an idiot … everyone could have died and it would have been her fault. She'd just become part of the family here in Edge, and had almost thrown it all away; was that really how much the girl valued her new life, to let Sephiroth take it away, again? She knew now that Cloud had merely let her win that sparring match all those weeks ago when Chris had arrived ... he'd been able to save her life with only one hand, and she would've just sat there like an idiot and let hermother's murderer kill her.

Cloud followed the President over, a factor which served in making Ali uneasy - her brother didn't trust the head of Shinra, despite all the company was now doing for Gaia and the fact that she worked as an employee, but the past still hung heavy over the name of Shinra.

"Ali, I'm going to pull up your enrolment files from the Junon archives, and running various tests on the blood sample taken today."

"But why?"

Even she hadn't seen those files; they'd been recorded when she was only ten years old and then filed away amidst the data banks of the Shinra company … to be honest, she hadn't even known that the files still existed after the fall of the conglomerate empire, but why would they test her blood? With an awkward shared glance between delivery man and President, which spoke of their unease around each other, Cloud was the one to answer, albeit with a spiteful glance at the company-owner.

"Those creatures, the Shadow Creepers, they wouldn't attack you, and you could somehow control them. Only people with extremely high levels of Jenova Cells can do that, Ali … I was injected with the cells by Hojo giving me a high count of cells by any count, but I can't even remotely control those things … we're hoping there's gonna be something traceable in you blood that'll give us an idea why you could."

Ali watched as her brother lapsed into thought for a minute of two, as thought he were trying to plan out what he intended to say. The teen didn't like where the conversation was heading and instinctively took on a defensive position.

"I've never had any Jenova Cell injections; I'd remember!"

Rufus cast a look over his shoulder to where Tseng was masterfully ushering everyone out of the medical wing as he and Cloud spoke with Ali. The President nodded his head as he looked back to the young girl, speaking as he did so.

"We know, your current file states exactly that, but listen to me Ali; the way you fought Sephiroth - that's not normal for a 1st Class as young as you; you've only been in 1st Class ranking for three years now, and although you're the best we've seen in a hell of a long time, you came away from that fight relatively undaunted, what I'm trying to say is that there may be something significant mentioned in your enrolment files that isn't included in your current profile."

"What d'you mean by undaunted? He beat the crap out of me, and would have killed me if Cloud hadn't stepped in … I was stupid to think I could even entertain him …"

With a slight chuckle, Cloud reclaimed the conversation, sitting alongside her on the bed and elbowing her slightly; careful not to hit his sibling's ribs as he did so.

"You fought better than I did the first time; at least you didn't get Masamune through the stomach, or the shoulder … But what we're trying to say is that Sephiroth seemed to know too much about you, sis; he must've had access to your files or something. Did he ever train you, even as a Grunt?"

Ali started swinging her legs again as she lightly shook her head, ready to reply, yet saved from answering her brother's question by her employer.

"No Cloud; she enrolledfour years after the Nibelheim Incident, a year before Midgar collapsed; Sephiroth was still A.W.O.L. at that stage and my father was the at the helm of this company. Maybe he included something in your files that may help us, that's the reason I intend to pull them out of our surviving data banks, Ali.'

Rufus locked gazes with his young employee, addressing her directly for the last part of his statement. The teenager nodded her head, somewhat hesitantly as she too became somewhat curious of her own files.

"Okay then … but how long will it take, sir?"

Rufus, already on his way out of the hospital wing, paused momentarily and looked back at his young 1st Class. Not a lot of employees caused him to empathize with them, and yet Rufus Shinra found himself unusually fond of young Ali Strife … maybe it had something to do with her being so young and yet thrown into the mix of SOLDIER … but for some intangible reason, the young man felt for the teenager.

"The blood sample will take a couple of weeks to complete all the tests I want carried out. But as for the file retrieval, it could take anything from days to months, I'm afraid."

With that, the young man was gone, leaving only two people in the medical area of the new Shinra building, in a silence that seemed to descend all too rapidly as Ali continued the swinging of her feet, her glowing blue eyes vaguely focusing on the tiles of the floor.

"You gonna spill?"

A slight push to her side jolted the teen back to the present, but she refused to look up at him, just carried on swinging her feet and idly staring at the ground in a bid to avoid the imminent topic.

"Don't know what you're talking about …"

"Yeah right, and I'm best friends with Rufus … what the hell's eating you? You've been acting weird since we got back."

"I'm fine, Cloud."

The sixteen-year-old stood from the bed and flashed a smirk, heading for the door of the medical wing before her older brother could ask anymore questions that put her on the spot. But the girl merely had her hand on the door handle before she was stopped.

"Ali?"

"Yeah …"

"Don't ever rush into a fight like that again, understand me?"

Okay, so maybe evading a questioning wasn't the smartest route to go when you had Cloud as an older brother. With nothing really to say in reply, the youth nodded her head in defeat, knowing Cloud to see right through her; he was well aware of what had been bugging her.

* * *

"Denzel! Give me back my phone!"

Tifa cast a glance in through the kitchen door as she passed, hearing the shouting; Ali was running around the room in hot pursuit of the boy she considered a nephew. With a smirk, the pub owner carried on into the bar section of the building. In the last three weeks things had pretty much returned to normality in Edge; Sephiroth and the others hadn't reappeared since Ali's birthday and neither had his annoying remnants. The Shinra computer technicians were still running through all their databanks and memory archives in a bid to locate her sister-in-law's enrolment files. Tifa's thoughts were punctuated by taunting shouts from Denzel and threats voiced by a certain teenage girl, but the young mother merely learned to tune these out as she served one of her regular customers.

"Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris!"

"You little runt, just wait till I get you, Denzel!"

A bang was heard and then silence as all commotion in the kitchen seemingly halted rather abruptly. Yuffie, who had just walked into 7th Heaven a few minutes ago, finding great amusement in Ali's threats, looked to Tifa who seemed busy behind the counter. With her trademark curiosity at its height the young ninja immediately found herself at the kitchen door, laughing out loud as she saw the sight within.

"It's not my fault, I swear!"

Denzel thrust Ali's mobile into Yuffie's hand as he swiftly exited the room with a laugh. It took the young Wutain a second or two to locate the missing teen; down o the kitchen tiles, flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"You okay?"

Yuffie was almost laughing as she pulled the floored girl to her feet and handed over the mobile. Ali grimaced and cast her gaze around; trying to figure what exactly had happened to land her on the floor … until her blue eyes focused in on a cupboard door that had been left open, allowing her to run straight into it whilst chasing Denzel. With a curse and a groan, Ali slammed the door shut with a heightened vengeance.

"Stupid door! I was about to ask who punched me!"

She placed a hand gingerly to her forehead, where a rather large bump was already becoming prominent. Yuffie shook her head, laughing as she did so; things hadn't been dull since Cloud's little sister had joined the group.

"Chris is outside."

"Right, thanks Yuffie."

Ali nodded, indicated the reclaimed mobile now in her hand and headed for the kitchen door, tripping over Denzel's skateboard as she did so, but managing to retain her balance as the youngster reappeared and stifled a laugh dodging a headlock from his aunt figure as she passed him, heading for the front door of 7th Heaven.

"Bye Tifa!"

"Don't be too late …"

"I won't!"

The teenager ducked under Barret's right arm as he opened the door ahead of her, heading into the bar. She'd been wary of the AVALANCHE leader upon first moving in with Cloud and Tifa - he'd seemed gruff and short with her, but then the teen had seen how gentle the man was around Marlene and Kas. Somewhere over the last couple of months, Barret had begun to display the same affection towards her as he did his daughter and Kas … Ali reckoned the fact she was so closely associated with Shinra had made him a bit wary of her but things were fine now.

* * *

"What happened to you?"

The voice sounded to her left where the youth was leaning against 7th Heaven's exterior wall. Chris was looking at the large lump prominent on his girlfriend's forehead as she haphazardly ducked beneath Barret's arm and dashed out into the small street. Ali grimaced as she ran her fingers over the bump lightly; she'd been hoping it wasn't too noticeable, but there was that hope out the window anyhow.

"I got into a fight with a cupboard door … you think I look bad, you should see the door!"

The lad laughed at Ali's measly attempt to retain some dignity, draping an arm around her smaller frame. The blonde teen nestled closer as they began walking towards the top of the street, being careful not to hit her head off of his chest; it was sore enough as it was without any more knocks!

Chris' leg had healed extremely fast, thanks to the Mako in his system, hereditary and the inducement received within SOLDIER. The muscles were still a bit stiff, causing the lad to walk with a slight limp, but physiotherapy was taking care of that and the impediment would be gone in only a matter of days.

"Rufus pulled up the files on my dad yesterday."

Ali nodded as her boyfriend leaned slightly towards her; the only indication of the slight limo. She'd been training last night when the technicians had managed to break the encryption on some of Hojo's older files - bringing about the revelation of stolen information from Hollander's dossiers; the files on the G Project had been surrendered to Hojo after he'd beaten Hollander in the run for head Shinra scientist.

"I saw the file last night; you look a lot like him, Chris."

Ali was right though; Chris was uncannily similar to his father in many aspects. They shared the same eyes and jet-black hair, though Chris' mop was noticeably more unruly than his father's slicked-back locks, and the seventeen-year-old's face was more similar to that of his mother's.

As the young couple came to the centre of the city, the two sat on the low wall of the Meteor monument; Rufus had paid for the centrepiece of Edge to be restored after Bahumet SIN had destroyed it those few years ago; it had been almost complete when DeepGround had resurfaced, only for the snipers and various others under Weiss' command to set back the completion with their full-scale attack … but, finally, the monument was fully restored and back as an integral part of Edge.

"They're expecting to find yours any day now."

Ali nodded and forced a small smile, much like she had to placate Reno in the hospital wing three weeks ago, trying to look pleased, but , unlike the redhead Turk, Chris could easily tell something was bothering her by the way she diverted her blue eyes to the ground as soon as she'd smiled.

"What's up Ali? You've been angsting about these files for nearly a month now; I thought you'd be relieved they're finally close to locating them."

"I am, don't get me wrong, it's just … what if there's something weird in my files?'

When Chris barely managed to stifle a laugh in response to her worrying, Ali elbowed him, grinning as she did so.

"What? I'm serious! You heard them; the Shadow Creepers … even Cloud's worried."

"You're his little sister, of course he's gonna worry about you; he doesn't even like me going out with you!'

The younger of the two smirked at that comment - Cloud _did not_ like Chris one bit, at first the girl had perceived it to be something to do with Angeal and how he had turned against Zack for a while … but now she knew that it wasn't on any personal level that her brother disliked her boyfriend, it was just Cloud doing his duty as a big brother; he didn't want his little sister having a boyfriend. With her good humour revived, the sixteen-year-old head of SOLDIER leaned back against the larger frame sitting to her side and spoke quietly as people and cars passed by, with maybe even a glimpse of Fenrir ripping by as Cloud set out on the last delivery of his busy day.

"Whatever my files say, you're gonna stay with me, right?"

At the sound of her doubtful voice, as though she didn't believe her own words, Chris nodded his head immediately; the seventeen-year-old's arms finding their muscled and comforting way around Ali's waist as he answered.

"Even if you're Jenova herself …"

The girl laughed and kissed him lightly, letting Chris hold her closer, listening to the resonating rhythm of his heartbeat … one part of her really wanted to have a look at her own files, but the other was still questioning if she should be trusted in SOLDIER anymore; a leader wasn't supposed to charge into a fight without considering the safety of his or her comrades lives, just like she'd done. What if someone had died that day?

Ali was saved from her undermining thoughts by the sound of a ringing phone, more so her own mobile in her pocket. The teen pulled out the silver phone, only to see Shinra's number to be flashing on the small external screen.

"Yeah?"

"Ali, it's Elena. The President wants you to come to the building … your files were just located."

* * *

It was clear to see that the President considered finding her files important, as he had taken the liberty to call and tell Tifa, who had in turn rang Cloud, the blond seeing it fit to turn back for Edge, half way to Corel. With the Strifes heading for the Shinra building, AVALANCHE had decided to tag along, seeing Cloud's sister as part of the group now.

Ali noticed Reeve to be present in the computer room as she entered with Chris the eyes of everyone on the two, having waited for their arrival for about ten minutes. Shelke was seen to be sitting in a modified chair structure, the upper part of her face obscured by some sort of helmet; she was in the midst of a Synaptic Net Dive.

A few edgy minutes passed in relative silence as Reno sidled over and spoke low explaining how the technicians had managed to find her files about half an hour ago, but were unable to break the safety encryption that encoded the file, keeping it locked and impermeable to even the best hacker in Shinra. Rufus had called in a favour (citing financial funding) from Reeve's WRO in the form of young-looking Shelke Rui. A loud pinging noise caused all within the room to look to the large touch screen suspended on the wall before them, synchronising with Shelke lifting the helmet from her head and opening her blue eyes.

"Whoever locked that did not want _anyone_ reopening them; the contents must have been important to the old President Shinra.'

The ex-Tsviet stood by the WRO Commissioner as she said this in a tone that reflected some kind of curiosity - very unlike the indifference she had sported two years ago at this stage. Cloud was looking rather perplexed as Tifa lifted Kas up to prevent the now two-year-old from fidgeting around with the many computers in the expansive IT room. The father seemed totally different to the man he'd been only a few days ago, with everyone amalgamating in 7th Heaven to celebrate the blond's twenty-sixth birthday.

By now, everyone was now directing his or her gaze up at the touch screen, where Rufus had just finished opening up the files, now free of their encryption thanks to Shelke.

Ali gazed up aswell, seeing the profile window, sporting a small image of the ten-year-old she once was … those six years seemed like a lifetime ago from where she was now peering back. The little kid seemed like a stranger to her now; she had a family now and a happy life in a prospering city, not a lonely little child being put through the paces in Junon.

With minimal interest Ali ran her gaze over her own details, knowing everyone of them by heart, ticking them off mentally as she did so, already knowing everything she should about herself and half-turning away, closing her eyes as her mind reiterated the points on the screen without even looking; born in Nibelheim, orphaned at six, enrolled in SOLDIER aged 10, eye colour, blood type, her mother's name, Vanessa, and her dad's name, Caleb Strife. The sixteen-year old reopened her eyes and turned her attention back towards the screen again, knowing her memory to be perfect … her dad's name was up there alright, but there was an asterisk alongside it yet none next to her mother's name, as one would expect to signify both were deceased.

"What's the asterisk mean, Sir?"

Ali's piqued curiosity was answered by her boss opening up numerous other windows, following the link the asterisk provided. A few more edgy seconds and Rufus had opened the last window.

"That … that's not possible …it can't be!"

Ali roughly shouldered away as Chris attempted to lay his hand on her arm, but the girl only had eyes for the large screen upon which her information as displayed, a horrible churning sensation taking place in her stomach …

**A/n- A bit shorter and varied from the original chapter, but I hope you guys liked it! Thanks again for taking the time to read my stuff, you know it means the world!! C yas!! XxxxxxxxxxxX**


	5. To Accept

**Author's Note:** Hey guys! Yeah, I live, lol! Christmas holidays are almost here and I think I got my writing drive back! Anyways, this chapter is a total rewrite of the chapter "Acceptance". I kind of realised that this fic needed some serious dealing with emotions and whatnot so, as a result, I've decided to maybe expand on the original nine chapters to allow more space and not cram the story into a set bracket. So, this chapter is more or less a new one that wasn't featured in the original. Hope you guys like it! XxxxxxxxxxX

* * *

The evening was rapidly darkening into night as the rain came down fast and heavy, the small droplets stinging as it struck her skin. The sky was a pressuring ominous grey overhead, the clouds looking so condensed that one might imagine them slowly creeping lower and lower.

She hadn't stayed in the room to find out the proper details held within her file; all she'd seen was his name and then the Shinra corridors had seemingly sped by in a rushed blur until the teenager had somehow found her way here. Ali didn't know why her feet had led her here, maybe it was just on account of seeing Cloud here at the same place on numerous occasions, sometimes talking to the lonesome landmark that adorned the small bluff.

Having known his name merely through training in Junon, Reno and Cissnei had filled the girl in on all the remaining information that had explained the person Zack Fair had been.

"How can it be true?"

The sword remained indifferent to her pleading question as Ali looked up from where she sat with her knees drawn up to her chin. The ground was saturated, with surface water running down the gradient of the bluff in small rivulets. The sixteen-year-old wiped away tears with her sleeve, to no effect as the garment was soaked through due to the downpour. Her bright blond hair was dripping rainwater into her eyes, and as she bent forward slightly, Ali could have sworn she spotted a silver hair amidst her blonde ones, but lightning flashed, drawing her eyes away just as fast as they'd seen it. Thunder clashed above just as the teen fixed the rusted Buster Sword with a spiteful, angry glare.

"Tell me! You knew him, you must have known about me …"

The blonde bit back as she heard her own voice shouting at the inanimate object. She'd said it: he and she in the same sentence, and it burned horribly. With a horrified realization, Ali placed a hand to her mouth as she thought of the Shadow Creepers. Suddenly it all seemed to fall into place. The girl had always believed her quick progress through SOLDIER was on her own merit and was proud of that believed fact, only now it was a lie: it was all a lie. All of her prodigious talents were because of him. The pride in his eyes as he'd abandoned the fight the day of her sixteenth birthday. The Mako glow she'd been born with had had nothing to do with the Reactor on Mt. Nibel, but it was inherited and now she knew who from.

She didn't want to be a SOLDIER anymore; Ali didn't want to be who she was now. She wanted to be Ali Strife; younger sister of the renowned hero of the Jenova War, not the offspring of its instigator.

"Please answer me …"

Now her blue eyes were sparkling and it wasn't due to the Mako gleam she'd horribly inherited from him; it was from newly-formed tears that immediately mingled with the rainwater dripping from her hair. Another flash of lightning, its fork hitting earth somewhere over Cosmo Canyon. Thunder arrived a second or two later, so loud and heavy it hurt her ears and bore down on the lowly bluff.

Punctuated by the angry clash of the heavens above, Ali could have sworn she saw his figure silhouetted by the flashing lightning. She didn't want him to be here, with his cool eyes, undertone voice and smug face. The wind whipped her hair up into a frenzy that almost blinded the girl as she glanced around, spooked. Her ears could hear his leather coat flapping in the wind, her eyes seeing the silhouette and then, with another flash of lightning and tremendous roll of forlornly thunder, the panicking teenager saw the Masamune coming down just as it had on a night just like this, many years ago. Petrified, Ali shouted out loud as the figure seemed to move towards her.

The wet mud allowed no grip for her trainers, causing the girl to slip and fall forwards. Her hand connected with something sharp and she felt the skin being sliced open. Screwing her eyes shut, the blonde knew it was the impossibly long blade.

"Ali!"

Arms were trying to grab her and she kicked out in desperation, sure it was him. He was trying to get her. Why? Why did Rufus have to unearth her files? She would have been better off never knowing. Strong arms turned her around to face him and shook her roughly until she opened her eyes. It wasn't him. Cloud was kneeling in the mud, his hands on her arms, holding her. Worry was etched all over his face as his spiky hair, now somewhat flattened, dripped rainwater. Another flash of lightning illuminated the darkened bluff: he was standing there, watching her. Instinct caused the girl to start away from her brother.

"Cloud, he's here!"

Cloud kept his grip firm and gave Ali one more light shake until she looked up to him again. His blue eyes darted around, taking in her worried look, her tear streaks and the sheer terror in the girl's eyes. She was drenched and freezing but, most worryingly, the palm of her right hand was sliced right open, with a stream of blood working its way down her fingers and onto the ground. The Buster Sword seemed to stand rather guiltily as its rusted blade showed a new stain of fresh blood; she'd cut herself when panicking.

"Ali, you're bleeding-"

"You don't understand! He's-"

"Ali! Look at me! He's _not_ here; it's your mind playing tricks on you. He's not here, he's not gonna get you. I won't let him."

Even though her terrified eyes glanced around the bluff and the surrounding area, Ali couldn't detect any hint of the ominous silhouette that had stood there only moments before. But she still felt as though he were there, watching her with amused yet proud Mako-green eyes.

"Promise?"

Those were the same unsure eyes he'd looked into twelve years ago and swore to return to with tales of Midgar and SOLDIER. He hadn't kept his promise back then, but by Minerva above, he would keep it now. He would protect her where he'd failed last time. Their mother wasn't here to look after her and Zack wouldn't tell her to run away, but he'd be there his little sister this time around.

"I promise, Ali. I swear I'll take care of you this time."

Relief flooded the sixteen-year-old almost as though a floodgate had been opened. She'd expected her brother to disown her after reading that file. Why wouldn't he? Ali began to cry as she relaxed into Cloud's arms, now reassured that the harrowing silhouette had been a figment of her imagination. Cloud mightn't abandon her, but she still had to face Tifa and AVALANCHE … and Chris. _Even if you're Jenova herself_- easy to make that promise when he'd presumed her files to contain an injection or two of Jenova Cells, not a whole hereditary influx.

"C'mon, we need to get you to the Shinra building's medical wing; your hand needs stitches."

"No! Please don't make me go; everyone's going to be there and they know now, they know I'm his daughter! Please Cloud …"

Though he pitied her, Cloud knew they had to go back as quickly as possible; avoiding problems only wore you out eventually, and the cut in her palm was quite deep and still bleeding, with no sign of letting up. Ali understood this as she looked down at her hand and allowed her brother to help her to her feet. Walking through the rain to the awaiting Fenrir.

* * *

Even the nurses knew of the files by the time she got back to the building, but they dared not say anything as her formidable brother remained in the room, knowing what was causing the tension as Ali received eight stitches and coagulants to stop the bleeding.

He didn't know how Tifa would react if he brought Ali home tonight; after all she had every right to be hostile after her father's murder, but Ali was her husband's sister and still the same little girl she had often taken care of. Barret would most likely refuse to allow Marlene stay in their care if Ali was allowed back into the bar; it had taken the burly man months upon months to trust the girl due to her status in SOLDIER, but now things had become a whole lot more complicated. She _would_ be staying with them; he wasn't abandoning her again … but he needed some time to explain the situation to everyone else involved. What was he supposed to say now? Sorry but I have to throw you out until I talk everyone around into trusting you again?

"Y'know, she could always stay with me and Cissnei for a few nights, until you sort shit out yo?"

Cloud blinked as he registered Reno to be standing close by, talking to him in a low voice, whilst nodding lightly towards Ali. Cloud followed the redhead's gaze to his younger sister. Gratitude immediately flared to life as he looked back to Reno.

"D'you mind?"

"Nah, me and Ciss have plenty of room, yo, and Ali's a good kid not matter what her files say."

"Thanks Reno, you sure Cissnei won't mind?"

"It was her idea, yo."

Cloud nodded his thanks as Reno walked away, a smirk on the redhead's face. The delivery service owner let loose a sigh; at least that was something sorted out. The blond had a feeling that Ali would prefer to stay at Reno and Cissnei's for a few days instead of going back to the bar straight away; she felt guilty about her files, even though she had absolutely no control over them.

Next came the hard part; convincing AVALANCHE to accept his younger sister. Either way, Cloud would _make_ them accept her. Sephiroth's daughter or not, she was still his little sis.

**A/n- Thanks a million for taking the time to review my fic and please let me know what you guys thought of it. XxxxxxxxxX**

**Author's Note: I was trying out a new style of writing inspired by 'NihilisticAmbition313' used in his brilliant fic "Greener On The Other Side" wherein the main events are revealed at the end of the chapter. I may not have been able to pull it off as good as him, so I apologise for any confusion. Explanations will take place in the next couple of chappies. Thanks again everyone!! XxxxxxxxxxxX**


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